The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Mr Pat Rabbitte TD, today announced he had received the formal notification from the European Commission in relation to the State Aids submission for Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff for biomass technologies (REFIT 3) and stated that he would be seeking Government approval to formally open the scheme within a couple of weeks.
This will pave way for the connection of an additional 310MW of renewable energy to the grid. The technologies supported will include Combined Heat and Power (CHP) from Anaerobic Digestion and Biomass as well as Biomass Combustion including the co-firing of biomass in peat powered stations.
Biomass CHP is generated using biomass fuels, typically wood residues from the forest industry or straw from cereal production. Anaerobic digestion CHP is fuelled by biogas which comes from animal manures and food industry residues.
The new tariffs will range from 8.5 cent to 15 cent per kilowatt hour in guaranteed support prices, depending on the technology deployed.
The Minister said “REFIT III will ensure that the amount of renewable energy generated from indigenous biomass resources grows and will support economic activity particularly in rural areas through development of a strong biomass supply sector.”
The development of biomass energy will underpin a market for forest residues and thinnings, as well as dedicated energy crops such as willow. Certain farm and other waste products can also be used to generate electricity through the use of anaerobic digestion.
Combined heat and power (CHP) is the simultaneous generation of usable heat and electricity in a single high efficiency process which means that more energy is gained from the raw materials used in the process.